Yellow Roses
by KitsunexMaxwell
Summary: Much to Gwen's disappointment she gets dumped... right before her senior prom. Good thing she knows a hero when she needs one. Please Read and Review. PLATONIC Ben x Gwen pairing
1. Yellow Roses

Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or any characters. But I do love watching the show on Cartoon Network.

**Yellow Roses**  
by KitsunexMaxwell

She knew when her mother called her to the phone that she should have just not answered it. There was a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, the kind she got when she just knew something wrong was happening. With shaky hands, she slowly brought the receiver to her face.

"H-hello?" She hated how she stammered, how her uncertainness made her voice go a little higher than her usual tone. She flinched inwardly at herself for that.

"Gwen, darling. It's me with some very bad news." His voice even now had that slight lilt of snob in it, the cultured slight accent that in a way always irritated her at how it seemed to sound like he was better than her.

"You… can't make it, can you?" She did nothing to hide the disappointment that dulled her voice.

"I'm sorry, Gwendolyn it's just not financially feasible at this time."

"Edwin, do you realize that you just called my senior prom 'not financially feasible'?" Hot tears burned in her eyes as she gripped the phone reciever tighter in to her ear. She couldn't believe he was pulling this now!

"I'm sorry Gwen, I really am." Was there remorse in his tone? Probably, but to Gwen she couldn't care less about that now. "I gotta go; I'll call you later sometime." And before she could protest anymore, the phone went dead.

She slumped against the wall, feeling crushed and hurt. Gwen, with all her academic achievements did not have many friends she could call and cry her heart out too. So who to call? _Who can I even tell this to?_ Without even thinking, she turned on the phone and called a number she knew by heart.

"What do you want, Dweeb?" Despite the insult, there was no malice in her cousin's voice. But the insult was just enough to make her even more infuriated with how crappy her night was going.

"I just needed to hear your voice to realize no matter what, you're still a bigger loser than I am." The cold and malice from her own tone was dripping and even she surprised herself. A stunned silence on the other end was all that greeted her. "Arg. I'm sorry, Ben, I shouldn't call you up and yell at you."

"You've done it before." Even now she can see him shrug in her mind's eye. He was the beholder of the Omnitrix, it took a lot more than verbal barbs from his cousin to get under his skin anymore. "Now, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Tears that were in her eyes now spilled down her face. She gave a small breath and in it was a hiccup.

"You crying?" Alarm rang in his voice.

Gwen stared at the wall in marvel. "H-how did you know?"

"The only time you hiccup, Gwendolyn Tennyson, is when you're crying." He stated it so matter of factly, but there it was, the touch of concern in his voice. It was all she wanted, it was the reason she did call, because he would care.

"My date bailed on me for senior prom. It's nothing." She tried to make it sound like it was nothing, but she hiccupped again.

"The bastard! Want me to beat him up for you? I'd love to go Four Arms on that twerp." He cackled merrily at the idea.

"No, that wouldn't do anything besides put you behind bars with no chance of bail once his lawyers get through with you. He **is** richer than you."

"Fine." He sighed, sounding dejected. "I won't pulverize that nasty Edwin Grand Smith. Even it would make** me** feel better."

She cracked a smile. "You're so selfish, Ben."

"That would be me!" He chimed, all dejection gone from his voice. "But are you going to be okay? The prom's tomorrow, right? Whacha gonna do?"

"Go anyway. Like hell I'm going to stay home after I spent six month's worth of allowance for my dress."

"You're going to go without a date? Isn't that going to make you look weirder than you normally do?"

She scrunched her nose at the thought. "Like I care what others think of me," her voice sharpened with defiance. "I'm going and that's final. Too bad there wasn't a tux option on your Omnitrix." There was a hint of wistfulness. _Okay, so maybe just a little I kinda don't want to go by myself._

Ben scoffed. "Why would I go to a senior prom with my **cousin**?"

"Hey! I thought you liked being the hero." She protested angrily. "What? You wouldn't get all dressed up for me?"

There was a long silence on his end. "I didn't think of it that way."

"Well I wouldn't expect you to do much thinking, would I?" She sighed, all anger leaving her with that sigh. "Thanks for listening, Cous that was pretty cool of you."

"Sure, no problem." Surprise in his voice at how instead of lecture him about this or that, the tone in Gwen's voice was one she was ending the conversation. "Hey, tell me how it goes?"

"Like you care."

"It sounded… like I should be nice to you right now." He sounded hesitate. "Right?"

She smiled and nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see it. "Right. And Ben?"

"What now?"

"Thanks."

"No prob, Gwen. Talk to you later, Loser."

"You're the—. " The phone went dead in her ear. "--loser." She finished before putting the phone down.

"Gwen, honey, you've been on the phone for a long time, anything wrong?" Her mother stood at the bottom of the stairs and for just a moment, Gwen hesitated.

"Nothing, Mom. I just found out that I'm going to the prom alone." She said it slowly, but there was no quiver in her voice. Bully for her.

"What? What happened with that Edwin?"

"I guess he caught the flu. I thought I heard on the news there was an uncommon cold snap in the Bermuda for this time of the year." She lied slowly, wanting that to be more the reason why her date cancelled instead that the bastard was too much of a penny pincher to dump her the night before prom instead of never agreeing to go with her in the first place.

"Oh, that's too bad. Are you sure you are just going to go alone?" 

"I'm not going to miss out on my senior prom, Mom. After this is graduation and college. Senior prom is an important milestone even if it had no academic value."

"Alright, Gwen, you made a good point. But maybe there's friends you can go with…?"

"None. But that's okay. I'll be fine." She smiled, and the smile was in her voice. "Anyway… I got a lot of things to do tomorrow." _A lot of things._

** BREAK **

"Honey…"

Gwen turned to face her mom, a smile on her face while she busied herself with undoing the seatbelt. "I'll be fine, Mom. If I can handle a summer with Grandpa Max and my dork-face cousin, I can handle doing this by myself."

Her mother opened her mouth as if to say something but stopped. She reached out with her hand and touched one of the curls that ran down the side of Gwen's face. "Okay, baby. You look beautiful, you really do."

Her cheeks reddened from embarrassment, she ducked down and looked at her hands sitting in her lap. "Thanks. See you tomorrow." She said, opening the door and carefully getting out of the car.

"If it doesn't work, just call, we'll pick you up."

Gwen nodded and closed the door behind her. She gave a small wave good-bye as the car pulled away from the curb. She steeled herself again, promising herself that no matter what, she would not back down. "I don't care what others think of me." She quietly told herself and started walking purposely towards the door.

The closer her strides took her to the door; it also took her closer to a group of classmates that were loitering around in their prom outfits. Several turned and stared at her, a few snickers made her muscles tense.

"Gwen Tennyson, what are you doing here? This isn't the study hall." One said, others laughing stupidly at the joke.

"Forget that, where's your date?"

Gwen opened her mouth, ready to give a smart remark when a voice from just behind her answered.

"Her date is right here." She turned and was shocked to see Ben standing there, dressed in a tux but his dark brown hair still in its messy mop. His green eyes glared down those who dared to try to insult his cousin before smiling at her. "I told you that I'd meet you by the doors." He politely grabbed her by the elbows and walked past the group without saying another word to them.

"Ben, what are you doing here?" Gwen hissed in a tone only he could hear.

"What a bunch of morons, who the hell do they think they are? Only **I**can insult you." He was muttering under his breath. "Those weren't even very good insults either." 

"Ben!" She jabbed him with her elbow.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Ben smirked. "I wanted to prove you wrong. There **is** too a tuxedo option in the Omnitrix. It makes me look damn good and like a secret agent, too."

He let go of her arm and turned around. He was wearing a white shirt, a green vest that matched his eyes and a matching green bowtie. His slacks were black as was the suit jacket he was wearing, despite all the spiffiness there was to the way he looked, there was no tell-tale sign that what he did look like had anything to do with the alien technology firmly attached to his left wrist.

"You rented, didn't you?"

"A hero never tells his secrets!" He denied. "Oh yeah, and I got you this, too." From out of a pocket he produced a small see-through box. "I went to a flower shop for a boot in air—"

"Boutonniere." Gwen corrected automatically.

"Whatever," Ben said impatiently, moving on with his story, "the flower lady said that my date was supposed to buy it and the guy's supposed to pick up the girl's corsage thingy, so I picked up yours too. I figured that with me surprising you, I wouldn't be getting a boot in air from you."

She took the box from his hands and opened it, inside was a wristlet, with three small roses mixed with some green and baby's breath. "It's beautiful."

"I got a weird look from her when I told her I didn't know exactly what my date was wearing." He shrugged. "I told her whatever I was ordering, it had to be something **not** sappy. I wasn't going to make no stupid statement of eternal love or anything like that."

"So that's why the roses are yellow?" Gwen guessed.

"Yup! The flower lady said that flowers actually talk… or something like that, and yellow roses say 'friendship'." He leaned over jokingly, as he was trying to listen to the single yellow rose pinned to his chest. "I haven't heard them say anything yet, to be honest with you."

Gwen shook her head. "You are such a dork." She tried her best to wrangle on the wristlet with only one hand.

"And you're a dweeb." Ben hissed, helping her place the wristlet. He titled his head and eyed her outfit. "But you do clean up nice."

"Ha-ha." She pulled her wrist away from him and twirled her dress in the same fashion that he had earlier. She was wearing a deep green dress, one that matched her eyes. It tied around the back of her neck, tight in the bodice part and lose when it came past her waist. It was something that looked both elegant but would get out of her way if for any reason she needed full movement.

After summers of multiple hazards, Gwen did learn how to dress to be ready for anything. She had crimped her hair into curls, most of it was up high in a complicated bundle that took her hours to figure out but a few of the curls strayed away, framing the sides of her face. It wasn't exactly how she planned it to look, but after running out of time and even patience, it was that or bust.

"Why, Ben? You still haven't told me."

He shrugged and looked sheepish. "I've risked life and limb for you, I figured me dressing up like a penguin isn't the worst thing I've done. Besides, you wanted a hero, didn't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "My cousin the hero, the prom should be in a bigger place, I don't think it's going to be able to hold that ego of yours."

Ben laughed. "Sure it will, I'll do my best to rein it in." He tried his best to look serious, but his eyes twinkled with humor and his lips twisted in a smile.

Gwen looked down at her wrist where the yellow roses sat. "These yellow roses are so pretty."

"There's just one request I have."

"What's that?"

"No slow dances."

She nodded, thinking about how awkward that would be. "You got it. But if it's upbeat…"

"If it's upbeat, definitely we'll dance. I got moves, you know." He grinned widely at her. "Now, enough gushing over silly flowers and thanking me a million times. Let's boogie."

"Yes… let's." Gwen agreed and followed after him, smiling and still grateful for the hero she had.

**End.**

Authors Note: This turned out longer than I anticipated. But overall, it isn't too bad. Thanks for reading this far, please gimme reviews.


	2. Wishful Thinking

Authors Note: The long-waited second part of "Yellow Roses". This is Ben's side, after the fact of the story. Ben's feelings for Gwen in this section is NOT platonic. Don't like it, don't read it.

Part II: Wishful Thinking.

"Ben? Where have you been? You were supposed to be here hours a…" Grandpa Max stared in disbelief at his grandson's outfit. A rented tuxedo clad his body, slacks, shoes, vest and white shirt were still on, his tie was loosened and hanging lopsided off his neck and he held the suit jacket over his shoulder.

"Sorry, Grandpa, I had an emergency." Ben muttered as he ran a hand through his constantly-disheveled hair.

"I heard Gwendolyn was found dateless the night right before her senior prom. So I take it you took her. Well, that was nice of you. Now can I safely say it's about time that you two started getting along?"

"I doubt it, we insulted each other the whole night through." His grin widened. "To tell the truth, I had a blast."

"Never mind the training, I guess. You need some sleep. Maybe I'll wake you up sometime after noon and we'll take up where we're supposed to be—working on Spitter's accuracy."

Ben nodded obediently. "I'm sorry I wasn't here on time Grandpa but…"

"You don't have to apologize to me, Ben, you did the right thing. Now, go upstairs and take a nap. Just because you stayed up all night with your cousin it doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on your training today."

The grin never left his face as he started climbing up the stairs, to tell the truth, he was exhausted—every dance that wasn't slow he was on the floor with Gwen. They danced and talked and had a blast… he was her hero, a true hero for her right there and then.

_I'm sorry, Grandpa, but she called me crying_. He couldn't see her face, but he knew that she was—she hiccuped, a small tale-tell sign of her condition. Gwen was strong and steady, it was rare that she allowed herself to cry but when she was crushed, and she called him, had turned to him. He couldn't beat Edwin up—despite being wronged, she would never forgive him but he could do the one thing that made up for the fact—proved how he was that much better than the rich snob.

_You should have seen the look on her face when she saw me there… okay, after she got over being surprised. She was glad I showed up, she was happy. I did right_. He threw the jacket over the chair and pulled his vest off without bothering to unbutton the buttons and taking off his slacks. Formal clothes were not made to be used as sleepwear. When he started unbuttoning his shirt, a flash of yellow caught his eye. My boutonnière, he thought as he carefully took off the yellow rose that was pinned to the jacket of his tuxedo. He put the pin down and swirled the small stem of the rose in his hand before bringing it to his nose and smelling it briefly.

flashback

"_Too bad there wasn't a tux option on your Omnitrix." There was a hint of wistfulness in her voice, once that was so soft that it caught his breath for a moment when he detected it. _

"_Why would I go to a senior prom with my **cousin**?" He put as much as a scoff into his tone as he could, trying to remind her who she was talking too._

"_Hey! I thought you liked being the hero." She protested angrily. "What? You wouldn't get all dressed up for me?"_

_There was a long silence on his end. "I didn't think of it that way." For her he'd do it, she was his most favorite person to be hero to._

/flashback

It wasn't hard to find a place to rent a tuxedo from. He just let the nice lady at the formal wear rental store pick his outfit, finding one with green in it and gushing how it made his hazel eyes look more green. After that he knew there was going to the flower shop, because he already went to his senior prom the month before, dutifully with some girl who asked him out at the beginning of the semester after Christmas break. He snickered as he remembered when he tried to tell the circumstances of his hurried prom date to the cashier.

flashback

"_I got a weird look from her when I told her I didn't know exactly what my date was wearing." He shrugged. "I told her whatever I was ordering, it had to be something not sappy. I wasn't going to make no stupid statement of eternal love or anything like that."_

"_So that's why the roses are yellow?" Gwen guessed._

"_Yup! The flower lady said that flowers actually talk… or something like that, and yellow roses say 'friendship'." He leaned over jokingly, as he was trying to listen to the single yellow rose pinned to his chest. "I haven't heard them say anything yet, to be honest with you."_

/flashback

He put the flower down on the bedside table and turned towards the bed. He crawled into it and laid down on his back, arms behind his head and he looked up to the ceiling.

Red roses were the ones that say 'I love you', to be honest it was the only flower that he already knew the meaning too. But to drop that on Gwen, when she was already having such a bad day? He couldn't be that selfish. He couldn't risk her anger.

"Could I find something for…friendship?" He asked that flower lady curiously and was rewarded with a smile and a lecture on the language of flowers.

He closed his eyes and felt the tiredness swell up in him. He did have a good night, he even had a nice hug from Gwen before he had to leave to Grandpa Max's place to train more on being a better hero with the Omnitrix.

_I wish you could know how much I love you, Gwen. I wish I could tell you how I never thought of you as my sister, as I have never been your brother. But there are times I wish I have never found this stupid watch on my wrist, so I guess I know just how far wishful thinking gets a person… nowhere_. He closed his eyes and drifted off, in a place where green eyes twinkled at him in a way that they haven't yet… and how beautiful she looked with three small red roses on her wrist.

**The End.**


End file.
